The present invention relates to leno weaving, in particular a reed assembly for leno weaving and a loom for leno weaving.
The invention also relates to a method of leno weaving.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a reed assembly for leno weaving, the reed assembly including upper and lower reed frame members between which a plurality of dent fingers extend, each pair of neighbouring dent fingers being spaced apart to define a dent space for a crossing-over warp yarn, a yarn guide finger co-operating with each dent space for guiding a crossed-over warp yarn therethrough, each yarn guide finger extending from one of the frame members and having a terminal end spaced from the other frame member so as to divide the cooperating dent space into a pair of cross-over dent spaces extending between said terminal end and said one frame member and being defined between facing sides of the guide finger and the pair of neighbouring dent fingers and a cross-over transfer region extending between said terminal end and said other frame member and being located between opposed faces of the pair of neighbouring dent fingers.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a leno loom including a reed assembly defined above.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of leno weaving comprising threading a first set of crossed-over warp yarns through a guide eye in each of the yarn guide fingers, threading a second set of crossing-over warp yarns through each dent space, oscillating the reed assembly between weft insertion and beat-up positions, guiding the second set of yarns such that at said beat-up position of the reed assembly, the crossing-over yarns are located in said cross-over transfer region and operating the reed assembly when said second yarns are in said transfer region to relatively position said yarns for entry into alternate ones of said pair of cross-over dent spaces on successive weaving cycles.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of converting a heard operated loom to a leno weaving loom including the step of substituting the conventional reed assembly by a reed assembly as defined above.